Bank of England holds interest rate at 0.50%

The Bank of England left its main interest rate at a record-low 0.50 percent on Thursday due to weak economic growth in Britain and mounting debt strains in the neighbouring eurozone. The BoE's nine policymakers also decided against pumping more new money into the economy, leaving its Quantitative Easing (QE) programme at £200 billion ($327 billion, 229 billion euros). "The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee today voted to maintain the official Bank Rate paid on commercial bank reserves at 0.5%," a statement said. "The Committee also voted to maintain the stock of asset purchases financed by the issuance of central bank reserves at £200 billion."